This invention relates to devices to fight fires. More particularly, the fire extinguisher system of this invention is deployed quickly from a platform at a safe standoff distance from a fire to safely and efficiently suppress it without undue exposure to danger.
Currently, fire fighters are without an effective large-scale system, aside from standard water hoses and helicopter xe2x80x9cdump buckets.xe2x80x9d These systems cannot deploy safely and quickly to effectively suppress fires. Tug boats or water trucks carrying pumps and attached fire hoses are used to combat fire at sea or on land and have met with limited success. This is because relatively small streams of water are pumped onto one or more localized points in the fire zone. These small streams quite often are in insufficient quantities to quickly suppress a raging fire safely and effectively. In addition, often it is extremely dangerous for these firefighting platforms to get very close to the burning sites, and hence, the limited effectiveness of their spraying equipment is further reduced. Because water, related water-based, or water-deployed fire fighting chemicals are usually the only agents available for these contemporary firefighting platforms, more highly effective fire suppressant chemical compounds or materials cannot be brought in sufficient quantities into the fire zone in a timely fashion to suppress fires throughout the complete fire zone.
Thus, in accordance with this inventive concept, a need has been recognized in the state of the art for a rocket deployed, textile and cordage supported fire extinguisher system to safely, and effectively combat large-scale fires with huge payloads of fire fighting compounds.
The present invention provides a system to suppress fires at a burning site. A matrix-like net structure is connected to frangible canisters of fire extinguishing compounds connected to a detonating network of pyrotechnic elements. Rockets connected to the net structure pull it from a platform, fly it to and over a nearby burning site, and drape the net over the site. Activation of the detonating network ruptures the canisters and disperses the fire extinguishing compounds to extinguish the fire.
An object of the invention is to provide a system for safely extinguishing a fire at a burning site from a nearby launch platform.
Another object is to provide a system for extinguishing a highly dangerous fire with significant quantities of fire extinguishing compounds safely and effectively.
Another object is to provide a system for extinguishing fires having net structure supporting canisters of fire extinguishing compounds dispersed by pyrotechnics.
Another object is to provide a system for extinguishing fires having rockets deploying net structure supporting many canisters of fire extinguishing compounds that flies to and drapes over a burning site.
Another object is to provide a system for extinguishing fires having net structure supporting many canisters of fire extinguishing compounds that flies to and drapes over a burning site to disperse the chemicals by activated pyrotechnics to suppress the fire.
Another object is to provide a method of packing a matrix-like net supporting canisters of fire extinguishing compounds and a detonating network that assures reliable deployment from a launch platform to a burning site to extinguish a fire.
These and other objects of the invention will become more readily apparent from the ensuing specification when taken in conjunction with the appended claims.